The Week in Mac Apps: Bork, bork, bork

This week's Mac app roundup includes a way for your children to cook without messing up your kitchen, a tool that helps you become a better writer, and a few graphic apps that, judging by some of their features, may or may not be about to become self-aware.

Bork, bork, bork

This week’s Mac app roundup includes a way for your children to cook without messing up your kitchen, a tool that helps you become a better writer, and a few graphics apps that, judging by some of their features, may or may not be about to become self-aware.

1Checker 1.0.2

Embarrassed by your spelling? Unsure about your grammar? Look no further than Greedy Intelligence’s 1Checker, which uses advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help you make your writing more cogent.

The free app can coach you on everything from vocabulary enrichment to style review, and even comes with a built-in dictionary, translation tools, and much more.

Briefs 1.2.3

Briefs’s eponymous app helps designers mock up iOS apps without having to write a line of code, with easy to use layout tools and the ability to deploy your creations directly to your clients’ devices through a free companion app.

Version 1.2.3 of the $200 app fixes several bugs and adds a number of improvements, including better layout defaults for scene backgrounds.

Easy Books 3.2

Geode Software’s Easy Book is, in the words of its developer, a professional business bookeeping app, capable of supporting ledgers, invoicing, time-tracking, and much more.

The app, which is available for free but requires in-app purchases to unlock its functionality on a permanent basis, has been updated to include a multitude of improvements and new features that range from better keyboard shortcuts to additional VAT-handling capabilities.

iWork

Apple has released a substantial update to its office suite, with a host of new features—as well as many old ones that are making a return after the recent reboot that the company effected late last year.

Some highlights include better handling of password-protected files, improved presenter options in Keynote, better sorting and formatting in Numbers, and additional layout options in Pages.

Bits and bytes

Flexibits’s $10 Fantastical has been updated to version 1.3.12, which includes several bug fixes and minor improvements … Mindsense has released a new version of its hugely popular $10 MailPilot, which addresses crashing problems, and improves syncing.

Sprouted Apps’s $60 BluePrint project management app has been bumped to version 1.0.6 with an update that is almost entirely devoted to fixing bugs of varying seriousness … and the apps in Adobe’s Creative Cloud offering have received numerous improvements, including better vector-editing capabilities, camera-shake reduction support, and improved 3D-painting and effects.